Paul Painting studied graphic design at the Technikon Witwatersrand between 1993-95. Finding that commercial art satisfied little of his creative motives Painting went on to balance his passion for traditional painting techniques with his fascination for filmmaking. Though the two mediums remain quite discrete in his production, there is an undeniable exchange of ideas between them.

Paintings preoccupations centre around portrayals of the figurative body. Painting held a successful solo exhibition at the AVA Gallery in 2007 and has participated in group shows nationally, including the Art and the Everard Read galleries.

More recently Painting has turned his attention to printmaking, specifically etching, under the tutelage of Judy Woodborne, and his work has been selected for group and solos throughout the Cape and Johannesburg. In this he has favored imagery that borders on the macabre and fantastical, qualified by a vein of dark humour and tragicomedy. Mug shots of vicious criminals rub shoulders with stuffed gorillas, concrete dinosaurs square off against burlesque wrestlers: a phantasmagoria of ill-starred misfits.